Thomas Jefferson was born 280 years ago today on the 13th April 1743 in Shadswell, Virginia.
He wasn’t just a Founding Father of his nation and a revered early President, but a wonderful wordsmith, which is my primary criterion for singling anyone out to be an indigenous man or woman of the Anglosphere.
He wrote a first draft which a committee of five turned into these immortal words:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Jefferson wrote the following words himself:
“Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
“I am not among those who fear the people. They, and not the rich, are our dependence for continued freedom. And to preserve their independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. “
“The whole art of government consists in the art of being honest.”
“In matters of style, swim with the current: in matters of principle, stand like a rock.”
While rejecting the English rule of his country of birth, he enriched the Anglosphere with his words as few men have.
Geoff Fox, 13th April, 2023, Down Under
Previous Indigenous Men of The Anglosphere are:
- John Wycliffe
- Douglas MacArthur
- George Pell
- R.S. Thomas
- Donald Trump
- John Barrymore
- William Shatner
FREEDOM, DEMOKRASI AND CIVILISED HUMANITY 